James

Between 1982 and 1989 James were to many Manchester’s best kept secret, adored by the city, signed by Tony Wilson (R.I.P.) to Factory, celebrated by Morrissey, Marr, New Order and The Fall, all of which begged the band to support them on tour, it wasn’t until the re-release of their third album ‘Gold Mother’ and the inclusion of previous single and student anthem ‘Sit Down’ that James took the music world by the scruff of the neck, moving from best kept secret to proudest sons in a heartbeat.

Throughout the nineties the band remained faultless and unerring in their ascendancy and ambition both here and in the US, where along with REM they were the most played band on college radio, with a succession of era defining albums spawning hit singles such as ‘Born of Frustration’, ‘Sound’, ‘Laid’, ‘She’s a Star’, ‘Waltzing Along’ and ‘Just Like Fred Astaire’, the Nineties belonged to James, the most romantic, earnest and enduring band the great city had ever produced until in 2002 it all stopped and it looked for a second as if we’d lost them forever.

After a 6 year hiatus though the band returned in 2008 and since then have recorded 5 stunning albums that have kept them up there as one of the finest bands this country have ever produced, which makes us immensely proud to welcome James as headliners for Common People 2018.